A £25 MILLION scheme to improve one of Bradford’s most congested roads could soon move to its next stage.

The Tong Street Highway works will see a 1.5km stretch of the road widened to two lanes in each direction, a new segregated cycle route on the North side of the road and more pedestrian crossings.

Much of the funding for the £24.49m scheme will come from the Government’s Department for Transport, although the department has yet to make a decision on whether the funding bid will be successful.

If it is not, the majority of funding will have to come from Combined Authority coffers.

At a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee next Tuesday, members will be asked to approve £2.53 million worth of funding to help draw up a business case for the project.

The aim is for the scheme to be fully approved by March, with the works completed by January 2023.

Questions over major plan for new Bradford link road

Members will hear that the road is currently used by 37,500 vehicles per day and “suffers from congestion resulting in delays to the road users.”

Journey times on the route can double during rush hour.

Members of the committee, made up of representatives from several Yorkshire councils, will hear that by reducing congestion on the street the scheme will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 34,105 tonnes.

The work will focus on a 1.5 km section of the A650 Tong Street between Knowles Lane and Westgate Hill (A651), and is expected to deliver:

- Carriageway widening from one lane to two lanes in each direction to increase capacity along Tong Street, “allowing general traffic (particularly commercial vehicles and buses) to get to their destinations more efficiently and improving journey time reliability”;

- Central islands with turning areas;

- Expanded footpath to the north side to incorporate a segregated cycle route;

- Upgrade to existing puffin crossings and signalled junctions to include shared use Toucan crossing facilities;

- Rationalisation of side road entry points to minimise traffic turning conflicts;

- Review of on-street parking arrangements to minimise the impact on journey times;

- Green infrastructure improvements.

The report adds: “The project will contribute towards unlocking growth in the M62 Enterprise Zone sites, playing an important role in connecting this area with central Bradford.

“The A650 Tong Street users currently experience congestion, delays and journey time unreliability with evening rush hour journey times doubling in the outbound direction.

"There are a number of planned residential and employment sites anticipated in South East Bradford, including sites close to Tong Street.

"Up to 7,200 new housing units are planned by 2028 and population growth of over 10 per cent (from 2014) is expected in Bradford.

"Local traffic growth of 22 per cent in the peak hour is forecast up to 2030. It is therefore predicted that if no intervention is made the existing issues in the highway network will deteriorate and impact on the delivery of housing and employment growth. ”

The committee meets online at 2pm next Tuesday.